55 Cal. App. 22 - Pitney v. Pitney’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “`The only exception to the rule that an authority to execute a deed must be conferred by writing, is where the execution by the attorney is in the presence of the principal. The exception arises from the doctrine that what one does in the presence of and by the direction of another is the act of the latter—as much so as if it were done by himself in person. The attorney in such case, so far as the signature to the instrument is concerned, is a mere amanuensis of the grantor, and in the affixing of the seal is only the instrument, the hand, as it were, of the grantor. It is not sufficient that the attorney was directed to sign the name of the principal and affix his seal; the execution must be in the immediate presence of the principal, and this fact must be affirmatively established by the party who relies upon it as an excuse for the absence of a power in writing.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 28 Cal. 4th 665 - Estate of Stephens

2. ““The name of the wife being written by her daughter in her presence and at her request, made it as much her signature as though it had been written by herself.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kadota Fig Ass'n of Producers v. Case-Swayne Co.